Lockheed L-193 "Constellation II" jet airliner (1953)

[boxkite]

The Lockheed one was described in a West German aviation magazine (aero?) as the L-193. It was a long evolution with many different layouts (see Jay Miller’s “Lockheed’s Skunk Works” book, pg 103/104). An example for this is the simple three-view drawing (again from the same aviation magazine), which shows another position of the engines. Unfortunately, I have no further information .

 

[boxkite]

... the three-view drawing

 

[boxkite]

Coming directly from the library I bring you specs of the Lockheed L-193:

- engines : 4 x J-67
- span : 47.24 m
- length : 51.20 m
- gross weight : 117,000 kg
- cruising speed : 900 km/h (at 10,670 m)
- range : cca. 5,600 km
- had been chosen for North Atlantic routes

SOURCE: aero 6/1954

 

[Orionblamblam]

... the three-view drawing

 

[Orionblamblam]

Lockheed also patented the L-193, and several variations thereof as design patents. I do not have the drawings readily at hand, but if someone wants to Google 'em, they're probably findable easy enough.

 

[Archibald]

193-55

Nasty Lockheed, who invented the Caravelle before the French!! ;D

 

[hesham]

http://www.google.com/patents?id=ip...stract&zoom=4&dq=nord+airplane#PPA1954-IA1,M1

 

[Stargazer]

Undoubtedly unique! The L-193 Constellation II was Lockheed's project to replace the venerable Model 49 with a swept-wing jet derivative. This is a 1953 inhouse company document of invaluable historical interest.

 

[Stargazer]

More pics:

 

[Mark Nankivil]

What is the link? Mark

 

[Stargazer]

Sorry... [EDIT: link to eBay page removed — no longer working]

 

[Stargazer]

WHAT IS THE CONSTELLATION II ?

A Paris to New York jet transport

Powered by four jet engines
Equivalent in size and passenger capacity to 1049
Same weight empty as 1049C
Same wing area as 1049C

Four passengers abreast - Standard
Five passengers abreast - Coach
Standard passenger capacity: 66
Coach capacity: 84
Cruise speed: 575 MPH
Airport Performance - Equivalent to 1049
Operating Cost - Equivalent to 1049



WHAT ENGINES ARE AVAILABLE FOR THE CONSTELLATION II ?

Basic airframe accomodates these engines with the anticipated chronology.

1955 to 1960
International Customers - Rolls-Royce Avon Mark 16
Domestic Customers - Wright Aero Sapphire J-65

1960 on
International - Rolls-Royce Avon or General Electric J-79
Domestic - Wright Aero Sapphire or General Electric J-79



WHO ARE THE MOST LIKELY USERS OF THE CONSTELLATION II ?

1955 to 1960
Pan American Airways - Avon 16
KLM - Avon 16
Air France - Avon 16
Trans-Canada - Avon 16

1960 on
International
- Avons
Domestic
- American Airlines - G. E. J-79
- United Airlines - G. E. J-79
- Transworld Airlines - G. E. J-79
- Eastern Airlines - G. E. J-79



IS IT A GOOD CONFIGURATION ?

The general arrangement of the Constellation II is the result of eight years of preliminary design studies. Due consideration has been given to the Operator's viewpoint.

Evolution of the "Fuselage Pod" arrangement of Constellation II is the inevitable compromise between Designer and Operator. The essential requirements of both parties have been satisfied.

History has shown that optimum aerodynamic design is the prime requirement of a successful airplane. Lockheed tradition will be splendidly advanced by this new Jet Constellation.



DO AMERICANS THINK SO ?

Airline comments on Lockheed Jet Transport design have been very helpful. The new "Fuselage Pod" engine installation meets most of their requirements.

Foreign objects damaging engine - Over-wing scoop unique in foreign object protection
Favor pod engines for service - Constellation II engines are no longer "buried". Pods are readily accessible for maintenance.
Decompression due to turbine wheel failure - Turbine wheels are located aft of cabine pressure bulkhead. Decompression impossible.

Major desire which the "Fuselage Pod" design does not meet is individual pods for each of the four engines. From a maintenance standpoint the single pod may be more desirable, but it is doubtful whether the small gain in maintenance ease can over come the safety advantage of engines close to the fuselage, far removed from fuel tanks, and high off the ground protected from crash damage.



THE CONSTELLATION II VS. OTHER POSSIBLE NEW MODELS

Much has been said of the virtues of the Pratt & Whitney J-57 engine. However, the difficulty is that an economical airplane designed to fit this engine is a big airplane; perhaps too big--and the engine will grow. The Wright J-67 demands an even larger airplane. However, the most objectionable aspect is that these engines are demanded by the domestic airlines who are not vitally interested in jet transports - yet.

There is probably no finer engine company in the world than Rolls-Royce, Ltd. Our customers who will need jet transports soonest would possibly prefer British engines. Avon 16 is a Rolls-Royce engine which is well matched to the Constellation II airframe. Is this not an attractive combination to offer to KLM, Air France, and possibly even Pan American?

For domestic operation, either the Wright Sapphire or the General Electric J-79 may be used. It is believed that the development of the General Electric J-79 will be suitable timewise to the majority of domestic customers.



RECOMMENDATIONS
[list type=decimal]
[*]Put Model L-193 data on Fuselage Pod installation on Lockheed Secret classification.
[*]Start development of L-193-44 prototype immediately with Avon 16 engines.
[*]Continue our primary sales efforts with international operators.
[*]Satisfy ourselves internally at Lockheed that we now have an acceptable article to potential domestic customers.
[*]Endeavor to convince the engine companies that a big market exists for the Avon size engine. Note that it can also be used on the L-246 (the next standard Air Force fighter).
[/list]
(from an original company report by E. C. Frost dated April 10, 1953)

 

[Triton]

What an interesting find.

 

[Stargazer]

Superimposition of Constellation and Constellation II from the same brochure:

 

[Triton]

Lockheed L-193 "Constellation II" blueprint found on eBay.

Source:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-49-Lockheed-L-193-Jet-AIRLINER-Aircraft-BLUEPRINT-Technical-CONCEPT-Drawing-/380472069959?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5895e70f47

 

[Stargazer]

Hadn't seen this one. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Triton]

Hadn't seen this one. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for posting the report or I wouldn't have known it was named the "Constellation II."

 

[bucky74]

Just found out about this today - anyone have pictures?

 

[MaxLegroom]

I've enjoyed reading about this one, as I saw a drawing for this project in a history of Lockheed that also included projects that didn't go into production. I'd be lucky if I ever found that book again, but I did copy the picture and text for future reference.

It did, however, show very different dimensions from those that had been posted.

The reference in the book is to the L-193-02-01 and specs come from a 1950 report.

Wingspan: 104 ft. (31.7m) without tip tanks, 111 ft. 4 in. (33.93m) with tip tanks

Length: 112 ft. 2 in. (34.19 m)

Wing Area: 1615 sq. ft. (150.039 sq. m)

Empty Weight: 74500 lbs. (33793 kg)

Loaded Weight: (MTOW?) 148000 lbs. (67132 kg)

Power: 4 12,200 lb thrust turbojets

Passenger Capacity: 64

Crew: 5

 

[Stargazer]

Thanks for this info and welcome! In case you wanted to post a picture, you'llneed to post more messages on the forum to be able to do that (it's a built-in security device of the forum to prevent spammers). You can always contact the site's admin (Paul_MM) about it.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Anyone can post images from the first post. I have to approve first posts and their images before others can see them. Once you've proved yourself to not be an evil spammer by making a few on-topic posts, posts and images will stop being moderated.

 

[Stargazer]

One of the many variations of the L-193 was published in Aviation Week, June 18, 1951.

The caption claims that the design "stems from that company's F-90 interceptor", although I still try to figure this one out!

 

[jmnjohn]

I have this Weight Justification report dated July 11, 1950 .... Here are some pics....Thx John ..

 

[jmnjohn]

here are the other pics ....

 

[MaxLegroom]

It's great to see even more information on this. What you've posted here might be useful if I decided to build the early version for Flight Simulator.

 

[hesham]

Nice info Jmnjohn.

 

[hesham]

Hi,

http://archive.aviationweek.com/issue/19500109#!&pid=12

 

[wasp88]

Was watching "Flying Colors," a promotional film produced by United Airlines in the 1950s. This film shows a United management team discussing future airline operations. At the 5:31-mark, the meeting charts show prototypes of a Boeing 707, DC-8 and a Lockheed L-193. Never heard of the L-193. The 707 looks to still have the bulbous-nose. The dash-8 looks very much like the final production version.

 

[Apophenia]

...Never heard of the L-193...

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/lockheed-l-193-constellation-ii-jet-airliner-1953.16708/

 

[hesham]

From Air Force magazine 1954,

I think the right shadow was for a variant of L-193,am I
right ?.

 

[MaxLegroom]

Sounds likely, probably relates to the tanker they'd won a contract for.

 

[hesham]

From Air Force magazine 1954,

I think the right shadow was for a variant of L-193,am I
right ?.

Again from Flying 1954-7 ?.

 

[hesham]

Again from Flying 1954-7 ?.

They spoke here about 3 Mach design,maybe it was a heavy fighter or bomber,so
if there is any clue in the new book of my dear Tony Buttler for it ?.

 

[hesham]

From Western Flying 1948.

 

[XP67_Moonbat]

Someone on the FB group Greatest Planes That Never Were shared pictures he took of what appears to be an unfamiliar Lockheed jet transport. He spotted it at an antiques market in Ontario, Canada.

I searched the forum but all I could find was a couple of patent drawings Hesham posted in the thread for Lockheed civil transports. I would have posted there but that thread is closed.

I cleaned up the guy's pics for better recognition. And here's a link to the FB post.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php/?id=34366349783&story_fbid=10160942315419784

 

[flateric]

Original images from post just in case

 

[Scott Kenny]

J79s in a civilian jet? Was not expecting that...

 

[BlackBat242]

J79s in a civilian jet? Was not expecting that...

Its been a civil engine almost as long as a military one.

The General Electric J79 is an axial-flow turbojet engine built for use in a variety of fighter and bomber aircraft and a supersonic cruise missile.

A commercial version, designated the CJ805, powered the Convair 880, while an aft-turbofan derivative, the CJ805-23, powered the Convair 990 airliners and a single Sud Aviation Caravelle intended to demonstrate to the U.S. market the benefits of a bypass engine over the existing Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet.

In the early 1950s, the U.S. military established a requirement for a high thrust, low weight, mechanically simple jet engine that could perform efficiently at Mach 0.9 cruise and Mach 2.0 combat speeds.
In late 1952, General Electric's proposed J79 was selected and first ran in June 1954.

In 1952, Chapman Walker's design team at GE built a one-off prototype of a jet engine designed specifically for transatlantic airliners. It used a single-stage fan powered by the same turbine shaft as the main engine compressor, as opposed to the Pratt & Whitney designs that were using a separate power shaft to run the fan. The GE design proved to be difficult to start and operate and was not developed further.

In 1955 Jack Parker took over GE's Aircraft Gas Turbine division. He hired Dixon Speas to begin interviewing executives at airlines to try to get a sense of the future market. Parker asked Speas to interview not the CEOs, but executives that might be the CEO by the time GE was ready to enter the civilian jet engine market. Parker, Speas and Neil Burgess, who ran the J79 program, spent a month meeting with American Airlines, Delta, United, KLM, Swissair, and SAS.

Around the same time, Convair was canvassing US carriers and found demand for a smaller jet aircraft for medium-range domestic routes. They began development of what would become the 880, and approached Burgess to see if GE could develop a version of the J79 for this role. Burgess responded by quickly sketching a version of the J79 with the afterburner removed and replaced by a thrust reverser, giving them an estimated unit price of $125,000 per engine.

The CJ805 program was not a commercial success, and GE lost approximately $80 million on the program with only a few hundred engines produced in total. In service, the design proved fragile, but these problems led to the program's ultimate success for the company, as it led to a greater emphasis on reliability.

The work on the 805 also had several spin-off products. Among them was another aft-fan design, the General Electric CF700 used in the Dassault Falcon 20 business jet, which was developed from the General Electric J85 in the same way as the J79 was adapted to the 805.


The above text is a paraphrase of info on Wiki... so while it should be mostly correct, it might not be.